T-Mobile to replace grandfathered plans with new rates

Many loyal T-Mobile customers will have to kiss their grandfathered plans goodbye. That's because the carrier is sunsetting legacy plans and moving subscribers to new ones, Big Magenta has confirmed to Engadget. While the company has yet to get back to us with the finer details of the switch, a spokesperson told us that affected folks will be provided with "similar or better features at a comparable price." An unconfirmed report that surfaced last week notes that clients will get special rates not available to newer patrons, with prices beginning at $20 -- the cheapest individual Simple Choice Plan costs $50 a month.

A HowardForums user also posted a letter reportedly from T-Mo (posted after the break) that lends credence to that claim, as it moves an existing user to a $45/month scheme with unlimited voice, text and 4G data. The transition's slated to begin in November, but if you'd rather switch carriers, you'd better take advantage of this shakeup ASAP -- the company's giving you the option to do so without penalty fees until February 21st, 2014.

Maintaining thousands of rate plans is the norm in the industry, but we think it creates unnecessary complexity. Simple is better, which is why we're reducing the number of older plans in our systems. We're giving customers on these plans the opportunity to choose a plan that best meets their needs. For the vast majority, their plan will provide similar or better features at a comparable price.